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Tuesday, November 08, 2011

FEAST OF THE DEDICATION OF THE LATERAN BASILICA IN ROME

NOVEMBER 9, 2011FEAST OF THE DEDICATION OF THE LATERAN BASILICA IN ROMEWEDNESDAY 32ND WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME – YEAR I

EZEKIEL 47:1–2, 8–9, 12The man brought me back to the entrance of the Temple and I saw watercoming out from the threshold of the Temple and flowing eastwards. TheTemple faced the east and the water flowed from the south side of theTemple, from the south side of the altar. He then brought me outthrough the north gate and led me around the outside to the outer gatefacing the east and there I saw the stream coming from the south side.He said to me, "This water goes to the east, down to the Arabah, andwhen it flows into the sea of foul-smelling water, the water willbecome wholesome. Wherever the river flows, swarms of creatures willlive in it; fish will be plentiful and the sea water will becomefresh. Wherever it flows, life will abound. Near the river on bothbanks there will be all kinds of fruit trees with foliage that willnot wither and fruit that will never fail; each month they will bear afresh crop because the water comes from the Temple. The fruit will begood to eat and the leaves will be used for healing.

JOHN 2:13-22As the Passover of the Jews was at hand, Jesus went up to Jerusalem.In the Temple court he found merchants selling oxen, sheep and doves,and money-changers seated at their tables. Making a whip of cords, hedrove them all out of the Temple court, together with the oxen andsheep. He knocked over the tables of the money-changers, scatteringthe coins, and ordered the people selling doves, "Take all this awayand stop turning my Father's house into a marketplace!" His disciplesrecalled the words of Scripture: Zeal for your House devours me as afire. The Jews then questioned Jesus, "Where are the miraculous signswhich give you the right to do this?" And Jesus said, "Destroy thistemple and in three days I will raise it up." The Jews then replied,"The building of this temple has already taken forty-six years, andyou will raise it up in three days?" Actually, Jesus was referring tothe temple of his body. Only when he had risen from the dead did hisdisciples remember these words; then they believed both the Scriptureand the words Jesus had spoken.

REFLECTIONHere we see the human Christ filled with emotion; we can even say hewas quite passionate. When he saw that merchants and money changersset up shop around the temple, something led him to raise a hand anddrive them all away. What was it that so offended Jesus? It wasn't somuch that the merchants were an eyesore, but rather that they wereinterfering with the real purpose for coming to the temple which is topray. And if we know one thing, it is that Jesus is very passionateabout prayer.

We ourselves are quite passionate about many things. When somethingthat we are passionate about is threatened, we readily take a standand defend it. If you are fortunate enough to take a tour of Europe,you will find that many of the tourist attractions are grand oldchurches. Thousands of people visit these sites every day. While manyare awed by the magnificence of these structures, they do notunderstand the true purpose why the churches were built. Their visionis limited only to the architecture; hence they quickly get jadedafter having visited so many churches. To those who have a passion forprayer though, it truly makes for a marvelous experience.

How do we nurture passion for prayer? We know that prayer iscommunication with God, but most of us want more. We don't want betterprayer techniques – we want passion in our prayer. It entails properfocus and attitude in prayer. It means avoiding distractions andhaving persistence in prayer. It means keeping our prayer time andnever allowing anything to disrupt it. We don't just want tocommunicate with God during prayer time – we want communion with God,to be one with Him with our all our hear t, with all our mind, withall our soul.

Finally, we pray for one another, for those who have asked our prayersand for those who need our prayers the most.

Have a good day!

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